Tudou’s share of video views rose to 13.8 percent in
January, from 11.9 percent in December, according to data from
ComScore Inc. supplied by Tudou’s Wang yesterday. Youku’s
viewership dipped to 21.8 percent from 22 percent in the same
period, the data shows.

“In the industry some other key players have been slowing
down but we have been maintaining our momentum,” Wang said in a
phone interview yesterday. “As long as the trend continues, the
gap will continue to narrow. We are pleased that the momentum we
have generated is sustainable.”

Tudou, which raised $174 million in its initial public
offering in the U.S. on Aug. 16, is expanding viewer traffic by
using that cash to invest in content such as Japanese animation
and upgrades to its delivery network to improve speed and video
quality. Wang is also building connections to social networking
sites such as Sina Corp.’s Twitter-like Weibo microblog service.

Youku remains “the leading online video site, confirmed
across the board, with a considerable gap,” Jean Shao, a
spokeswoman for the Beijing-based company, said yesterday.

Tudou sank the most in five months in U.S. trading March 1
after reporting a net loss of 148.9 million yuan ($24 million)
in the fourth quarter. That loss was caused by “one-time
costs” such as the purchase of Japanese animation, Wang said.
Shanghai-based Tudou forecast last month that sales will gain
between 70 percent and 75 percent in the first quarter.

Tudou dropped 4.5 percent to $11.65 at 11:46 a.m. in New
York trading on March 6. It has risen 6.1 percent this year.

“Going forward we are more optimistic about the revenue
momentum,” Wang said. “With revenue growth, all this content
spending and bandwidth costs can be contained.”